English as a Second Language ESL

Learn and Earn ESL and ESLN Certificates

What types of certificates are offered? 

Currently, the LMC ESL Department offers students the opportunity to work toward earning twelve certificates of two different types as shown below. 

Earning a certificate demonstrates that a student has successfully worked to attain a particular set of foundational, intermediate, or advanced general or academic English as a Second Language competencies and outcomes.

Through program design, including the scheduling of classes and designated ESL student advising and counseling, students are guided, encouraged, and supported to create an educational plan and to enroll in certificate-seeking packages of ESL courses each semester (as opposed to solitary single classes). 

By following this guidance and implementing such plans, students will optimally position themselves to make the greatest progress in terms of the following: 1) their English language acquisition and 2) our department’s ultimate instructional goal of successfully transitioning into their chosen academic major and career.

How do I earn and obtain a certificate?

Below are the descriptions of the certificates including the number of hours (for Noncredit ESLN courses) or the number of units (for Credit ESL courses) needed to obtain each. 

Certificate Requirements

Certificates of Competency can be earned by successfully completing the required Noncredit ESLN courses and number of hours as shown below. 

College Skills Certificates can be earned by successfully completing the required Credit ESL courses and number of units shown below. 

General ESL for College and Career Preparation

• Basic Vocabulary and Reading Development Certificates  

  Basic Vocabulary and Reading Development*

  Required Courses	Certificate of Competency	Hours
  ESLN-065VR	Basic Vocabulary & Reading 1 - Noncredit ESL	54
  ESLN-075VR	Basic Vocabulary & Reading  2 - Noncredit ESL	54
  	Total Hours Required	108
  Required Courses	College Skills Certificate	Units
  ESL-065VR	Basic Vocabulary & Reading 1 - Credit ESL	3
  ESL-075VR	Basic Vocabulary & Reading 2  - Credit ESL	3
  	Total Units Required	6

  *Basic Vocabulary and Reading Development Competencies and Outcomes:

  1. Strive to gain increasing ability to understand and accurately and creatively use vocabulary learned from context and on the new general service list (NGSL) and the new academic word list (NAWL) in known and new situations.
  2. Embrace having more to learn through reading inquiringly and critically and thinking flexibly about diverse, multi-genre college-preparatory and college texts that connect you to multicultural, social, ethical, and global ideas and issues.
  3. Pay attention to recognize and self-improve pronunciation difficulties, speech challenges, writing complexities, listening obstacles, and reading issues that may impede successful engagement and interaction, finding humor and responding with wonderment and awe to support your doing so.
• Foundational Grammar for General Communication Certificates

  Foundational Grammar for General Communication*

  Required Courses	Certificate of Competency	Hours
  ESLN-065G	Foundational Grammar 1 - Noncredit ESL	54
  ESLN-075G	Foundational Grammar 2 - Noncredit ESL	54
  	Total Hours Required	108
  Required Courses	College Skills Certificate	Units
  ESL-065G	Foundational Grammar 1 - Credit ESL	3
  ESL-075G	Foundational Grammar 2 - Credit ESL	3
  	Total Units Required	6

  *Foundational Grammar for General Communication Competencies and Outcomes:

  1. Risk responsibly and persist to accurately understand and apply grammatical structures – from basic to advanced - to negotiate meaning, ask questions, share and discuss ideas and opinions, solve problems, create plans, make decisions, present arguments, and apply past knowledge to achieve solid understanding and intended meaning.
  2. Pay attention to recognize and self-improve pronunciation difficulties, speech challenges, writing complexities, listening obstacles, and reading issues that may impede successful engagement and interaction, finding humor and responding with wonderment and awe to support your doing so.
• Essential Pronunciation and Conversation Certificates

  Essential Pronunciation and Conversation*

  Required Courses	Certificate of Competency	Hours
  ESLN-065PC	Essential Pronunciation & Conversation 1 - Noncredit ESL	54
  ESLN-075PC	Essential Pronunciation & Conversation 2 - Noncredit ESL	54
  	Total Hours Required	108
  Required Courses	College Skills Certificate	Units
  ESL-065PC	Essential Pronunciation & Conversation 1  - Credit ESL	3
  ESL-075PC	Essential Pronunciation & Conversation 2 - Credit ESL	3
  	Total Units Required	6

  *Essential Pronunciation and Conversation Competencies and Outcomes:

  1. Speak and listen with empathy and increasing confidence, fluency, and self-regulation, curiously exploring diverse and alternative perspectives, within a range of formal and informal social, academic, and career communication settings.
  2.  Pay attention to recognize and self-improve pronunciation difficulties, speech challenges, writing complexities, listening obstacles, and reading issues that may impede successful engagement and interaction, finding humor and responding with wonderment and awe to support your doing so. 
• Fundamental Writing Skills Certificates

  Fundamental Writing Skills*

  Required Courses	Certificate of Competency	Hours
  ESLN-065W	Fundamental Writing 1 - Noncredit ESL	54
  ESLN-075W	Fundamental Writing 2 - Noncredit ESL	54
  	Total Hours Required	108
  Required Courses	College Skills Certificate	Units
  ESL-065W	Fundamental Writing 1 - Credit ESL	3
  ESL-075W	Fundamental Writing 2 - Credit ESL	3
  	Total Units Required	6

  *Fundamental Writing Skills Competencies and Outcomes:

  1. Communicate clearly, effectively, and creatively in writing at the word, phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph, and essay levels,reviewing and reflecting on your writing and learning, and collaborating with others to support your continual development.
  2. Pay attention to recognize and self-improve pronunciation difficulties, speech challenges, writing complexities, listening obstacles, and reading issues that may impede successful engagement and interaction, finding humor and responding with wonderment and awe to support your doing so.

Academic ESL for Educational and Professional Advancement

• Intermediate English for College and Career Success Certificates

  Intermediate English for College and Career Success*

  Required Courses	College Skills Certificates	Units
  ESL-085G	Intermediate Grammar - Credit ESL	4
  ESL-085SL	Intermediate Oral Communication - Credit ESL	3
  ESL-085WR	Intermediate College Writing - Credit ESL	5
  	Total Units Required	12
  Required Courses	Certificate of Competency	Hours
  ESLN-085G	Intermediate Grammar - Noncredit ESL	72
  ESLN-085SL	Intermediate Oral Communication - Noncredit ESL	54
  ESLN-085WR	Intermediate College Writing - Noncredit ESL	90
  	Total Hours Required	216

  *Intermediate English for College and Career Success Outcomes and Competencies:

  1. Embrace having more to learn through reading inquiringly and critically and thinking flexibly about diverse, multi-genre college-preparatory and college texts that connect you to multicultural, social, ethical, and global ideas and issues.
  2. Strive to gain increasing ability to understand and accurately and creatively use vocabulary learned from context and on the new general service list (NGSL) and the new academic word list (NAWL) in known and new situations.
  3. Communicate clearly, effectively, and creatively in writing at the word, phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph, and essay levels, reviewing and reflecting on your writing and learning, and collaborating with others to support your continual development.
  4. Risk responsibly and persist to accurately understand and apply a wide variety of grammatical structures – from basic to advanced - to negotiate meaning, ask questions, share and discuss ideas and opinions, solve problems, create plans, make decisions, present arguments, and apply past knowledge to achieve solid understanding and intended meaning.
  5. Speak and listen with empathy and increasing confidence, fluency, and self-regulation, exploring diverse and alternative perspectives, within a range of formal and informal social, academic, and career communication settings.
  6. Pay attention to recognize and self-improve pronunciation difficulties, speech challenges, writing complexities, listening obstacles, and reading issues that may impede successful engagement and interaction, finding humor and seeking out and responding with wonderment and awe to support your doing so.
• Advanced English for Academic & Professional Advancement Certificates

  Advanced English for Academic & Professional Advancement*

  Required Courses	College Skills Certificate	Units
  ESL-095G	Advanced Grammar - Credit ESL	4
  ESL-095SL	Advanced Speech Communication  - Credit ESL	3
  ESL-095WR	Advanced Academic Writing - Credit ESL	5
  	Total Units Required	12
  Required Courses	Certificate of Competency	Hours
  ESLN-095G	Advanced Grammar  - Noncredit ESL	72
  ESLN-095SL	Advanced Speech Communication  - Noncredit ESL	54
  ESLN-095WRV	Advanced Academic Writing - Noncredit ESL	90
  	Total Hours Required	216

   *Advanced English for Academic & Professional Advancement Outcomes and Competencies: 

  1. Embrace having more to learn through reading inquiringly and critically and thinking flexibly about diverse, multi-genre college-preparatory and college texts that connect you to multicultural, social, ethical, and global ideas and issues.
  2. Strive to gain increasing ability to understand and accurately and creatively use vocabulary learned from context and on the new general service list (NGSL) and the new academic word list (NAWL) in known and new situations.
  3. Communicate clearly, effectively, and creatively in writing at the word, phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph, and essay levels, reviewing and reflecting on your writing and learning, and collaborating with others to support your continual development.
  4. Risk responsibly and persist to accurately understand and apply a wide variety of grammatical structures – from basic to advanced - to negotiate meaning, ask questions, share and discuss ideas and opinions, solve problems, create plans, make decisions, present arguments, and apply past knowledge to achieve solid understanding and intended meaning.
  5. Speak and listen with empathy and increasing confidence, fluency, and self-regulation, exploring diverse and alternative perspectives, within a range of formal and informal social, academic, and career communication settings.
  6. Pay attention to recognize and self-improve pronunciation difficulties, speech challenges, writing complexities, listening obstacles, and reading issues that may impede successful engagement and interaction, finding humor and seeking out and responding with wonderment and awe to support your doing so.

Certificate Obtainment

Once a student has received a passing grade in each of the courses listed as required for a certificate, s/he should locate the appropriate application form on Admissions and Records Forms and follow the instructions on that page to fill the form out and submit it to Admissions and Records (A&R).  

Once A&R reviews the student’s records and verifies that the student has successfully passed each course, they will mail the certificate to the student’s home address, or the address the student provides on the application.

The name of the two forms associated with our certificates are listed below and as links to the A&R Forms webpage - look for these exact titles in the list.    

• Application for Noncredit Certificate of Competency or Completion 
• College Skills Certificate Application

The links on the A&R Forms webpage will take students to InSite where they can complete and submit the electronic form.

If you need any help, use the contact information on the forms' page, or ask one of your professors or Ms. Eva Padilla.